Russian Drone Strike on Konotop Injures Five, Including Three Children

A Russian drone struck a private residential home in Konotop late Thursday evening, injuring five civilians, including three children, local authorities said.

Konotop is a city in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, near the Russian border, an area frequently exposed to Russian drone, missile and cross-border attacks.

According to Konotop Mayor Artem Semenikhin, the attack hit a house in the city’s Zahrebellia district, a residential area of private homes, sparking a major fire while people were inside.

Emergency crews, first responders and investigators were deployed to the scene to extinguish the blaze, clear debris and document the aftermath of the strike.

Three children among the wounded

Local authorities said five people were injured in the attack: a man, a woman born in 1988, and three children born in 2012, 2017 and 2023.

“All three children are in hospital together with their mother, born in 1988, who was also injured as a result of the enemy strike,” Semenikhin said.

One of the children, born in 2012, reportedly suffered acute acoustic trauma and a severe stress reaction following the blast. The two younger children were also confirmed among the wounded.

Medical personnel were providing assistance to the victims. Preliminary reports indicated the children were stable but suffering from shock and blast-related injuries.

Water and electricity disrupted

Beyond the human toll, the strike also damaged local infrastructure, leaving Konotop without water and partially without electricity.

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“There is currently no water supply in the city, and electricity is only partially running,” Semenikhin said on Telegram.

Local repair crews were working under emergency conditions to isolate damaged systems and restore vital services to residential areas.

Konotop under repeated attack

The latest strike follows earlier Russian attacks on Konotop and the wider Sumy region, where civilian areas and infrastructure have repeatedly come under drone, missile and guided-bomb strikes.

On Monday, Russian forces targeted a Konotop hospital with a Shahed-type loitering munition, an attack Semenikhin condemned as a deliberate strike on civilian infrastructure. 

Sumy regional authorities have continued urging residents to respond immediately to air raid alerts, warning that cross-border drone and guided aerial bomb attacks from Russian territory remain a constant threat.